Sean Kanan isn't crazy about giving interviews. "I rarely want to talk about anything when I do interviews. I find these to be an occupational necessity, you know what I mean?" he says, then adds, laughing, "Don't take it the wrong way." Hearing this from some actors, one might expect the next hour or so to be filled with awkward silences, or occasional innocuous chatter, but with Kanan, neither turns out to be the case: He is warm, humorous, kind and extremely charming. He is also very articulate, and well, more than a little intense.

"A lot of the issues I have have helped me to create some interesting characters," he says. "I read something once by Nietzsche - and I'm paraphrasing because I don't remember it exactly - but it was something like, 'One must have chaos in one's heart to truly give birth to a dancing star,' and I believe that." It's clear to see why playing a tormented character such as A.J. Quartermaine on General Hospital really appeals to him. "It's definitely more fun to play a troubled character. For one reason or another, I've been cast more often as bad characters than good. Part of that, I guess, is who Sean is as a person, and that's not necessarily bad," he says, pausing before continuing. "I've got a wild internally tempestuous quality to me." Does he believe an actor needs a heavy dose of inner turmoil to be a great artist? "No. It would seem to me that mature actors can draw on residual stuff. Look at Clint Eastwood. You can see the guy has mellowed a little with age, but he's not a milquetoast. I bet if you ask Maurice (Benard, GH 's Sonny) he'd say many good actors work from inner turmoil." Suddenly he breaks into a broad grin and says, "Yeah, Maurice is intense. I'm not always so intense. I've done stand-up," he says with a laugh, adding, "I know what you must be thinking: 'This guy must be a lot of fun.' But actually a lot of the pathos in comedy comes from pain." He stops as if to catch himself from continuing in this serious vein. "Not to get too heavy or anything, but I don't mind playing troubled characters. It's better than those through-and-through goody-goodies."

"He is very intense," says GH executive producer Wendy Riche. "Sean brings a complexity to his role that really works." Expressions like "self-therapitize" and "cathartic" are peppered throughout the conversation when Kanan describes how he feels about being an actor. This is particularly true when he discusses the storyline involving A.J.'s alcoholism. To prepare for it, Kanan spoke to people in recovery programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous, attended some meetings himself and "did a little drinking."

Where most actors might find it draining to play such an emotionally overwrought character, Kanan relishes the experience for two reasons. "It's very freeing playing this out. You can help yourself or explore certain things through your art. That's what I try to do." He's also used the role to pull out all the stops and jump into a part that allows him to show his range as an actor. "A.J. is very diverse and so screwed up that I'm very grateful to ABC for giving me this opportunity," says Kanan, who has played the emotionally volatile character for three years, and just signed on for another two. "It gives me a hell of a lot to play with, and hopefully that's going to continue in the time I have remaining on the show."

While his storyline on GH has finally heated up ("He's waited a long time for good material," admits Riche), Kanan has been busy pursuing other avenues to express what he calls "the fire that drives me." He has studied acting with Cameron Thor, Chris Steele and the late Roy London, a well-known Hollywood acting coach whose pupils included Sharon Stone. Last year he produced, co-wrote and starred in the short film Oasis Caf� with Gary Busey, and produced and appeared in the Sam Shepard classic True West onstage in Los Angeles. When asked which of his roles he's most proud of, Kanan hesitates a bit, saying, "Being proud is not something that comes easy to me. I tend to be very self-critical. I think that working on a soap is an inherently difficult and constricting medium. We do one show a day with very little rehearsal time, and the deck is stacked against you for doing the best work you can. Conversely, in theater, you've got your best shot. So that being said, I think I'm proud of some of the work I've done on GH - the whole alcoholism story, and I'm very proud to be working with such great actors as Stuart and Leslie (Damon and Charleson, who play Alan and Monica)."

He brightens when the conversation turns to his GH family, particularly when he describes his close relationship with Steve Burton (Jason). The two are real-life cousins (although neither one can explain just how they actually are related) who met at an audition six years ago. "When you see us together there's no acting that is going on. I love the kid; he's like a little brother to me," says Kanan. "On television we just talk to each other as slightly different guys."

"He's one of my best friends, a big brother who is always there," says Burton of Kanan. "It happens naturally for us on-screen. Working with him is the greatest. It's not even like going to work at all." The two share another common bond: a fascination with the stock market. "Sean's a real businessman. He taught me all about the stock market, how to read reports and follow it on paper." A few days later, after hearing Burton's praise for his business acumen, Kanan sounds pleased. "It's a hobby you can make money at," he says.

Kanan was born in Cleveland and grew up in New Castle, Pa. His father, who attended the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, is president of the family business, a chain of jewelry stores, and his mother is a real estate agent. He doesn't get back home to Pennsylvania much, but he goes to spend time with his "West Coast family," relatives on his mother's side. "I don't know if I'd live in L.A. if I weren't an actor: But it's OK, I like L.A. I just know I couldn't live in Pennsylvania. You know that saying, 'You can't go back.'"

He speaks passionately about his diverse nonacting interests - and there are many. Kanan, who has studied martial arts on and off for 15 years, kick boxes and writes poetry ("It tends to be dark. It's mostly about myself or the human condition. There's usually an emotional catalyst that goes with it"), and he recently started taking piano lessons. "It's just something I've always wanted to do," he says. As with everything Kanan does, his hobbies seem to elicit strong feelings of desire to tame some remote inner part of him, to harness the same intensity he directs towards his acting, and to grow from the experience. "With writing I want to learn to be more disciplined, to try to sit down and write every day. I'm very disciplined about some things and undisciplined about others," he says.

However, not everything about Kanan resonates with artistic angst. In fact, he knows where to draw the line when it comes to keeping his professional and personal lives separate. He has been involved with the same woman for seven years, and relishes the security and stability of the relationship. She's not in show business. "One neurotic in the family is enough," he says cheerfully. "I've got the market covered right now. She's independent, with her own lifestyle and her own business, and I like that. I know I get the truth from her."

On-screen, he's looking forward to generating some heat with A.J.'s new love interest, Keesha. "I like doing love scenes," he says with a smile. "It's fun. It's acting. If it's done right both people should get excited and real turned on. Otherwise we're not doing our job. I would be lying if I said I didn't try to elicit sparks from the actress, not just the character, but you've got to learn to temper that and channel it for the creative process. I go home to my girlfriend every night. You've got to keep it in perspective, and it's real easy not to. Not so much on television, but on film where you go on location to Montana for nine weeks with Michelle Pfeiffer, and there's nothing to do but hang out with your leading lady. If I were one of those guys and I were married, my wife and kids would be right there with me."

What Kanan keeps close at hand these days is a good sense of humor, a sincere earnestness and manners that would make any mother proud. An example: When the check comes he reaches for it and is surprised to find that the magazine is footing the bill. "Oh, that's great. I'm just not comfortable having a woman pay the check," he says, but relents. A few minutes later, driving across town amid a picture-perfect Southern California day, he's asked what is the one thing in his life he'd like to have but currently does not. Kanan answers without missing a beat: "You always want what you can't have, and for me it's a sense of peace, tranquility and calm. I've never found inner tranquility," he says matter-of-factly over the strains of Alanis Morissette. He looks straight ahead and turns onto a busy street, merging into traffic.